2007 NASCAR Fantasy Preview: Pocono Raceway

First off I have to apologize to everybody for not writing an article last week. I just plain forgot to do it but I’m back this week with my take on the Pennsylvania 500. I hope everyone had a good week of picking without my advice, which seems like it is the case most weeks this year.

My Pick To Win Pocono

My pick to win this weekend is Denny Hamlin. Denny won both races last year at Pocono and finished 6th in a rain-shortened event in June. Denny seems to excel on the flatter tracks and had a good car at Indy last week but his car stalled out on pit road and he lost a lap trying to get it refired.

Pocono Front Runners

Tony Stewart is on a roll right now having won the last 2 races. Tony is a teammate of Denny’s and should have a great car once again this weekend. I said before that when Tony breaks out he is capable of running off a bunch of wins in a short amount of time and that time is here right now.

Jeff Gordon won the rain-shortened race in June and has been having a phenomenal year even for a 4-time champion. Jeff battled an ill handling car last week at Indy and still came away with a 3rd place finish.

Jimmie Johnson is usually very good at Pocono but he has been struggling a bit lately with some bad luck more than anything else. If Jimmie can avoid the accidents and mechanical failures this week he should be there to challenge at the end of the race.

Kurt Busch is another driver who has excelled at Pocono in the last few years. After winning the fall race in 2005, Kurt followed that race with 2 runner-up finishes last season before finishing 16th this spring. Teammate, Ryan Newman, took 2nd place to Jeff Gordon this spring and both of these teams can get the job done at Pocono.

Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton have a good handle on Pocono over the last few seasons also. Both drivers had top 10 finishes at Indy last week and this is a very similar track. I would have to give the edge to Kevin right now because his team seems to be a little better at keeping up with changing track conditions during the races.

Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards are the two best Roush drivers at Pocono. Carl has a sprained thumb right now and that will probably affect him a little bit over the next few weeks. Matt is close to breaking back into the win column and would like to get a little momentum back heading into the Chase.

Mark Martin always run well at Pocono and this will be his first time there in a DEI car. All of the DEI cars seemed to handle rather well last week at Pocono but had some mechanical issues. Mark lost 2nd gear right at the beginning of the race and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lost his engine late in the race. Martin Truex Jr. struggled a bit but came away with a decent finish.